Christmas time

Well a merry Christmas to you all and a very happy new year!

Christmas was lovely at our end. I broke up from work on the Friday but Alex finished on Wednesday, lucky thing! We packed our bags and drove to Coventry on the saturday to spend that day and night with my parents. It was hectic at ours until the last minute, phones ringing, plans being made, and a last minute trip to Kings Heath's butcher. It was a very successful trip! We'd paid for a Christmas hamper and when we laid out all the joints of meat and the turkey it made such an impressive sight we had to photograph it! Well, we do like our food...

But we finally got out the door and it was a very relaxing day and a half. Pads was a tad concerned, but we'd recruited Fran and Les to look after her!

We had Christmas lunch with mum and dad which was lovely and relaxed. We had a good chat and a 'sobremesa', and the meal was delicious. Then after a few hours af catching up my auntie Shelagh and Uncle David, younger uncle David and his fiancee Angela came over to say Merry Christmas. In June I'm going to be their bridesmaid-yey! Some of the party said merry Christmas more enthusiastically than others, with older uncle david dressing as Santa for a part of the evening!

When we got home me and Alex had a nice time preparing the turkey and we spent a few hours with Nathan and Laura and Emma. I think the 5 of us are as much a family as any other. Alex walked me to church, the bells were chiming for midnight mass, the air was crisp, it was a perfect Christmas Eve night. Then the vicar did a daft sermon about how he had a conversation with a puppet mouse and mice finding space in the nativity, and mice that lived in the church but looked more like a cat. Not sure what he was on about. So despite feeling aggrieved that for another year the 100's of people that had packed the church would probably not return the rest of the service was ok. Then we all met up again at Nathan and Laura's and opened each other's presents. It was lovely! Me and Alex walked home to wish the cat happy Christmas and get a good night's sleep.

Christmas day was great. We spent hours opening our presents. I was so relieved that Al liked his! Christmas lunch was festive and relaxed - followed as it was by a quick kip! Then we walked to Fran and Les' to watch Nicholas Nickleby, eat Christmas cake and talk. We didn't even have to walk back 'cause Les gave us a lift! Fab day...

Thank you to everyone who remembered us with cards, gifts and texts, it's my favourite day of the year!

Dylan Moran on kids parties

A very funny excerpt from the old Dylan Moran dvd that tickles me and Al pink - he bought me a new dvd of him for Christmas which I am dying to see!

For those of you with MySpace I thought I'd let you know that I am slowly getting to grips with my MySpace account. You can say hello at:

http://www.myspace.com/gem_richards

However, I'm not keen on having it open to total strangers so only friends who are added can see the full page - so if you have a myspace site too please send me a friend request! At the moment I only have two MySpace friends, so cherished as they are I'm a bit lonely!

Also if anyone learns any funky triks on myspace please let me know as I'm still learning!

The week before Christmas

I have finished work, yey! Ok so it's only for 4 days but I'm still excited! It's nearly Christmas!
He terminado el trabajo, bueno solamente para 4 dias, pero aun sigo estando muy feliz! Estamos casi en navidad!

This has been a crazy week. There was a sudden rush in the sales office at the beginning of the week. Karen sent me to work for one day in the Sales department. They looked at me like I was an alien at first. I'd been quite nervous about going and working on the phones but when the Sales manager was reluctant to let me have a go I felt myself wanting to do it! I hadn't worked on the phones since those awful 3 months at Seven Trent, but after a shaky start getting the technology going ok I had a really good take, taking calls and sales and wishing all our customers a merry christmas!
La semana ha pasado muy rapidamente, ya que estabamos todos muy ocupados. Preparando para navidad y ayudando a la gente que automaticamente sienten la necesisdad de comprar por telefono urgentemente.

That day I had college so I went to my class, which like everything else this week seemed to mean eating... There was party food and mince pies in between learning about osteoporosis. Even so we were all glad to be let out early! I headed off to Ben and Cat's new home, a rented victorian house close to Edgbaston Cricket Ground (Ben's spiritual home!). The had the BIGGEST Chrsitmas tree I've ever seen, and eggnog, and mince pies, and trifle, and it is a gorgeous home! In fact it is exactly like you'd imagine Christmas to be in the movies, the tree was the icing on the cake!

Alex had gone out for a work do that night so I headed home at about 11pm. It was lovely to see Ben and Cat, and great to see their new home. They are planning to get a cat in February - we might give them ours if she carries on scratching the wallpaper - only joking!

This week the weather has been very wintry. My car door froze this morning and I had to unlock it from the passenger side! The lake was freezing over too, as you can see in the picture. Poor Linda finished work yesterday to fly to her family home in Belfast. I just got a text message from her. The fog meant she didn't get home until 4am - 9 hours after she was due to set off on an hour's flight. It's been travel chaos for many this Christmas time. One of our consultants called Alex was supposed to go home to Italy and I hear he never made it. I'm just glad we only have to make it as far as Coventry!
El tiempo ha sido muy frio, nublado y helado; autentico invierno! Aunque no me ha afectada mucho hay gente como mi amiga Linda quien sufrio mucho cundo trato de volar a su familia en el norte de Irlanda, llego 7 horas tarde!















I thought I'd give you an idea of Christmas in the office... Chocolate! Very naughty I know. At about 2pm today Sharon came round with oranges because we'd all OD'd on cake!












Plus we'd dragged the yukka plant or whatever it is out of Karen's office and "decorated" it. I can see why Christmas trees never caught on in Fiji..!














Today was especially nice because as well as being pay day and the last working day before Christmas I received Employee of the month!
El trabajo me reconocio con un premio hoy, senti muy orgullosa y felic al recibirlo. Es algo que premian cada mes, y tenia esperanzas pero no sabia que seria yo este mes.
I remember working hard for that sort of thing at Bright and it never worked out because I just got worse not better and got dispirited, and it was just very saddening every month. But here it has actually paid off! Plus I got a certificate! Yey!















It just remains for me to say, from me Alex and Pads, Happy Christmas to one and all!
Solo hay que decir, de yo Alex y Pads, Feliz Navidad a todos!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

x

A busy few days

The rush to Christmas is upon us.
An interesting fact I heard. the X in Xmas is from the greek for 'Christ' - so that's an interesting one for all you pooh-pooers of Xmas...
Anyway, Thursday was our staff Christmas do, it was brilliant! I went over to Kate's house to get ready, only to realise that I'd forgotten my dress! I'd packed a bag and I'd remembered to pack everything, even my Bridgit-Jones-suck-everything-in pants, but I forgot my dress!!! What a Gemmarism... So we rushed over picked up the dress and rushed back. Me, Kate and Emma all got ready, (with Mary's help who had to go home to finish an assignment) then Mary's boyfriend arrived to pick Mary up and he helped spray our hair with glitter - he used to spray paint walls so he was quite a pro! Then Alex (Alessandro Ferretti, northern Italian, and one of our consultants) joined us and drove us to the Burlington Hotel. In the car he had an album on by a guy called Paolo Nutini, which is probably very popular but it was new to me. Anyway the guy is a lovely singer and I recommend a listen.
We got to the Burlington hotel in town a bit late because we had a nightmare finding parking. Donna was in front of me in the queue and bought two double vodkas and lemonade - she turned to me with a shocked face and said "they cost me £17.50!" - so I bought one drink and decided that that was it for me! Fortunately there was plenty of free wine on the table to accompany the meal and I got up to dance as soon as the music started and forgot all about my glass. I had a great time. It was the BEST works do ever! There was such a good atmosphere, and BioCare totally owned the dance floor. You should have seen the boys, too, usually they are in jeans in despatch, but that night they were so dapper, my god!
I got home at 2am, which made the friday at work quite an endurance test cause it's been ages since I went out on a school night! I'll add pictures asap.
Then friday night me and Alex went to a party in Moseley. Stuart is one of Alex's football team mates, and he and his wife are heading off to Canada for 6 months in the new year. So he thre a bit of a do before heading off, and the theme was "When you were 16". Alex couldn't find anything to wear (and he had long hair then - he went through a bit of a grunge phase) but I cobbled together something approaching my Colosseum outfit. I had my hair in bunches, and got into indie kid mode, it was great! Loads of people made an effort. Loads of people were in Goth mode, Stu looked like he'd been in the Happy Mondays. A few were all grungy. Some people were obviously 16 in the mid 1980's. Rich was the biggest surprise, only 4 years older than me and Alex he was dressed as a fop, in a black suit akin to Mr Darcy out of Pride and Prejudice. His admission: "You have no idea how precocious I was back then" - he is one of the most sensible people I know!!! I got to bed late again that night...
Saturday was another lovely, sunny, crisp winter day. in the evening my parents came over at 6pm for a cup of tea before the three of us went to the church for a Christmas Concert. The choir was the Bournville Young Singers, and now I've got to write a press release on it. But basically it was a good evening. There was a really cute Training choir, made up of 4 years plus. Then the junior sang a few carols, then the senior girls. The senior boys were a big surprise. When I sang in choirs there was always a lack of boys willing to train and give up their time when they could have been playing football or watching telly. This choir is made up of volunteers who practice at a house in their spare time so it was quite an achivement to even have a male voice choir of teenagers. Not only that but they sang wonderfully. Finally the highlight was Vivaldi's Gloria. The soloists tackled the piece really well, even though they looked dead nervous, bless them. Overall it was a lovely night, and we all got to sing a few carols which is always good. I really need to sing a few more though. We sang Oh little town of Bethlehem, Ding dong merrily on high and a few more but there are still so many more to sing!!!

Catching up

This saturday was officially fun!

Me and Alex got our tree, an artificial one this time to last us a few years, and we decorated a bit, then I went to the hairdressers to get my hair done. Hang on to your hats chaps, I've got a fringe! It was the first time I'd got a fringe put in since I was 7 and tried to do it myself, evidence in the picture! That picture is of me and Lisa and the two Danielles, we got together at this lovely little restaurant called The Beeches in Hampton In Arden. It was a great night, hilarious because at first none of us could find the place! We all drove through H in A a few times before realising it was down this tiny road called Marsh Lane. Once there however the food was lovely, there was a good atmosphere and we had a great evening catching up.

While I was out Alex went round to Nathan and Laura's and got fed and looked after, and then they played playstation... bless them!

Don't know what's the matter with me though, despite sleeping loads this weekend I still can't shake off the tiredness... I'm getting old!

The run up to Christmas

It was Friday the 1st December and the next day was Christmas day... confused? This was my weekend...

Friday night me and Alex went on a date! We went to Cafe Rouge for a meal - Alex's treat! We really indulged ourselves, eating our way through 3 courses and finishing with a coffee liqouer, we both chose cointreau, yum! We headed home, next week we're meeting up to see Casino Royale at the Odeon, cool!

Saturday was a fun day. Me and Alex spent the morning resuing the house from a minor state of yukkiness, then Hannah drove over and we made our way to Oxford. We spent an early Christmas day with Sarah and John and Susie and Andy, James Lees, Emily and her very nice bloke, (who we were all dying to meet), and Sarah's sister Joanne. It was fab! John cooked a fabulous christmas dinner, we had two types of cake for pud, and we swapped secret santas. We listened to christmas songs and it really truly felt like December 25th!

We drove back a bit groggily on the sunday, and then I drove to Coventry for a lunch with my parents. It was really nice, we just chilled, went to Sainsbury's, and talked.

Then me and Alex spent the evening together, him groaning every time he moved (the normal effect of a game of football, every week these days! bless him.) By the way Moseley Town football club won 4-1 today, beating a team who'd only lost once before, yey!

Ahh, lovely weekends...

Busy weekend - ish

Well this weekend has been all about organising things and fitting in as many sensible bits and bobs that need doing before Christmas as possible...

First: Mortgage.
Our first two years were nearly up, and so was the mortgage product we bought had rearly ran out. Can you believe it? So we sat and went through all the financial stuff with our very nice branch manager, Alan Robbins. He remembered us from 2 years ago when we first bought our house, which was lovely!
In the end we plumped for a 10 year one, wow... we'll be 36 when that one is up, yikes! Anything could have happened, we could have kids, we could have moved house, we could even be living in the UK where the Euro is the currency! Factoring in all the risks we decided 10 years was the most sensible, even so. It struck me that this was possibly as big a decision as buying the house in the first place, almost as big as getting married will be in 2008!!!

And on that note, we went to see two venues with a view to planning the big day. One we wrote off entirely, the other looked promising. The one we wrote off was Studley castle, great potential but not quite there yet. The other, I'm keeping close to my chest ;)!
Today I signed up to The Organ Donor register online. A few months ago I sang at an organ donor celebration service and I recently heard about this site. I have signed dozens of those organ donor cards and then gone and lost them so I think this is a terrific site. I like the thought that I could be usful after I'm gone and it's so easy to sign up, I'd recommend it to anyone who's lost those cards like me, just follow the link:
https://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/registration/consent.jsp

Today, Sunday, I walked to church and back, and Alex played football. They drew 4-4, quite a good game by all accounts. Now we're off for sunday lunch with his parents - who we haven't seen for ages. Then I think Alex has a date with the Man U vrs Chelsea game at the Jug of Ale...
boys...!

I have been writing press releases now for 6 months or so for the Friends of Historic Kings Norton. I have been given management access to the website and I can update it with the press releases as I send them out. So if you want to read them just follow the link below.
aah, fame!

http://www.historickingsnorton.org.uk/news.php?id=167

pictures from the craft fair

Craft Fair and the weekend

Yesterday I went to the Westmead hotel with Laura and we boogied away - there was a band I think it was called Totally 80's. It was great!

Despite the fact that the lead male singer loved himself a bit, he did sounds absolutely great. And the girl singer was amazing! It was the first time I'd gone out and danced for ages, I met all of Laura's work mates, and they were loads of fun. Some people had really made an effort to get into the 80's feel, and there was a real party feel cause it was three people's birthday. Actually one bloke got a bit too much into the party mood.... we heard all these screams coming from the dance floor and when I looked there was drunk man without a shirt on, next thing we knew he was taking off his trousers! He was stood there in his briefs!!! Not pretty! yuk...

Ayer noche fui a un hotel donde trabaja mi amiga. Hacian una noche de musica de los 80. Fue estupendo, y baile un monton - algo que no he hecho en meses. Bueno, esto me parece. Nos dieron una comida, depues habia una banda y un dj. Lo unico malo (y muy de risa) fue cuando un hombre borracho empezo a sacar su ropa, solo se oia gritos!

Anyhoo, this morning was the Kings Norton Craft Fair. As press officer I was in attendance of course.
It was really good. We had 34 stands selling anything and everything hand-made, crafts, paintings, tapestries, glass, jewellery... it was great! We had over 500 visitors and all the money made goes towards the Restoration of the Saracen's Head and Old Grammar School. And it was all in the beautiful church - the church where I'm going to get married!!! So excited!

Esta manana tuvimos una feria en la iglesia, otra vez estabamos tratando de hacer mas dinero para la Restauracion de los edificios que estamos protegiendo en Kings Norton. Datan del siglo 14 y 15, mas o menos. Pues habia 34 exhibitores y fue un gran exito: hubo mas de 500 visitores! Por si acaso quieres ver mis narrativas oficiales estan puestos ahora en la pagina web, solo hay que apretar el vincula arriba - claro esta todo en ingles!

Me and Alex made the most of having our camera back and captured Pads- doesn't she look lovely?

Ahora que tenemos nuestro camera otra vez hemos sacado estas fotos de Pads. Me parece que ha crecido, es mas un adulto ahora que una nina - no es adorable?

Finally, I regularly get updates from the Lib Dems and they had this rather scary picture on their website. Is that a scary sight or what?
The Lib Dems are proposing a green tax to deal with the climate chaos that is a reality. If you want to sign their petition you can, follow the link:
Finalmente, vi este imagen en la pagina web del partido de los Liberal Democrats. Demuestra un futuro que me da miedo. Anado acqui un vinculo por si quieres ver los detalles de un planeado tax que proponen el partido, y si quieres dar tu apoyo puedes poner tus detalles.
http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/greentaxswitch&petition=success&id=48

More than a week

It's been a busy week as usual. At work we've been getting ready for an exhibition in Dubai, printing, stuffing and carting about absolutely loads of marketing literature for the trip. It all has to be boxed and weighed and all the paperwork done ready for customs in the United Arab Emirates... it's heavy, endless, hard work, but I'll feel good tomorrow when it's all done.
I've had 2 x 4 day weeks though so it's not too bad! Last weekend me and Alex spent the last 2 days of my holiday lazing about and being slovenly... it was great! But that all seems far far away. You know what it's like, return to work and any holiday seems hazy!
Anyway tomorrow (friday) I'm going out for a meal and cabaret night with Laura at the hotel she works at. I'm really looking forward to it. Then on saturday we have the craft fair at St Nicolas church on the Green, it should be good... I might be a little worn out after that!
On the plus side my camera is fixed so I'll soon have pics to post up.
Until then... hasta la vista!

Bat crazy

Today is a saturday, and as I mentioned on a previous post I had quite an unnusual morning planned. The buildings on The Green in Kings Norton that won the BBC Restoration have been found to be the home of a variety of 4 different bat varieties; the Common Pipistrelle, the Soprano Pipistrelle, the Brown Long Eared Bat and the Natterer’s Bat. More info at:
http://www.bats.org.uk/

Anyway, before the big building work begins on the buildings we have to re-home the bats because they are an endangered species. So this morning we invited the local community to build bat boxes! Bat boxes, from what I can see are rather like bird houses, and there are instructions on how to build them on that website above. As with all these things you never know how big a success to expect; I always prepare myself for worst case scenario (I wore heels so that under no circumstance could I be forced to climb a tree to knock one of these boxes up!!!). In fact about 60 people turned up, all different ages, sizes and I suspect very few were familliar with knocking nails into wood. Still we followed instructions and had a great time. Tea and biscuits were on tap fortunately and in under two hours we'd constructed 50 boxes!!! I made 2!!!! I used to hate woodworking at school, but I loved it this time. If aggression was required the knock the nail in I just remembered my old PE teacher...! Here are the photos of my efforts:
My first bat box!
















My TWO boxes!
















Me getting friendly with my hammer!
















Finally, a well-meaning and industrious volunteer has not only signed his box for posterity but he's put a contact number on! Maybe the bats can call him to say thank you!













Pues este manana fue estrano pero muy interesante. Construi 2 cajas para murcielagos. El murcielago es una especie bajo proteccion, y hasta hoy han vivido en los edificios que ahora queremos restaurar. En fin, Eramos unos 60 voluntarios esta manana, ninos, padres, abuelos, personas de cualquier tipo y origen, y constuimos 50 cajas para los vecinos murcielagos! Yo construi DOS, y en la escuela odiaba clases de construccion o madera... Fue un gran exito!

The dress

A couple of weeks ago, as you know, I went shopping with Uncle David and his fiancee Angela for the bridesmaid dress I'm going to wear for their wedding next summer. I'd love to put a picture of it on here but as you know my camera is broken. But as we trawled the shops of Birmingham we ended up in a few bridal shops in order to find a suitable dress for Angela's cousin, their younger bridesmaid Vanessa. And being surrounded by so many wedding dresses got me in the mood... Here's a picture of me taken on my phone of one wedding dress that I couldn't help but try on! Couldn't walk in it though.











Sabes que hace un par de semanas fui de compras para un vestido para la boda de mi tio - yo sera una de dos amas de boda. Pues estaba rodeada por vestidos de boda, claro, y esto es una foto de un vestido en particular que me atrayo. Bueno, me pareci dificil andar llevandolo pero bueno, te da una impresion...

some research

I like a project, as you all know, or rather I like to distract myself with random stuff... So my current project is family history. You see, although everyone knows that mum's spanish and dad's english, sorry Celt, ahem... well, few know that back in 1852 a certain Elizabeth Richards, daughter of William and Elizabeth (nee Higgins) was born. She went onto great things. From her home in Wales she grew up, went to school, went on to be a governess and moved to Madrid, where she had some pretty important neighbours - she lived right next to the royal palace!

I'd love to trace her movements, find out if she settled in Spain, and see if I have another spanish line in our family! If anyone knows of a useful website/forum etc then please let me know!

New date for your diaries

Ta daaaa..!
Gemma and Alex are happy to announce the date of their forthcoming marriage: Saturday April 5th, 2008, at 12 o'clock midday, in the church of St Nicholas, Kings Norton, Birmingham.

Finalmente, Gemma y Alex se celebran poder dar noticia de la fecha de su matrimonio: el 5 de Abril, un sabado, de 2008, a las 12 de mediodia, en la iglesia de St Nicholas, Kings Norton, Birmingham.

Woo hoo!

Technical Hitch

My digital camera has thrown a wobbly and I've had to send it back to the shop, via my parents in Coventry, so I can't put any pictures on here for a while, sorry! Thank you mum and dad!

Have just been to see Alex play football, his team is a bunch of lovely lads. They drew 2-2 with this team called Water Orton United. I wouldn't say this other team cheated exactly, but there were so many hand balls I did start to wonder if they were actually playing rugby rather than 'the beautiful game'... On the plus side Alex scored!

Next time I go I'll have my camera and I'll get some shots of my boys here for you all to see.

Mi camera no funciona muy bien y he tenido que enviarlo a la tienda donde mis padres lo compraron, asi que no podre anadir fotos al blog pa un ratillo... Perdona! Gracias mum y dad!

Allotment fever

Wedding fever might be replaced by allotment fever.

See fellow allotment blog at http://allotment21.blogspot.com/ and marvel...

To explain: Alex plays for footie team called Mosely Town FC, two of his mates have acquired green fingers, both heterosexual men with partners and responsibilities, yes, and they are just about to get what is by all accounts a rather large allotment. Me and Alex will cultivate a third and we're planning much more green fingeredness for 2007...

We'll be eating more fresh healthy food and I must say, as our crops in the garden dwindle I'm loathing Sainsbury's more than ever and looking forward to pulling my first potatoes out of the new plot.

Vicky and Pete's response was one of horror, but just wait until we invite them to a barbeque, then they'll come to eat their words. No we're not getting old, it's a perfectly respectable occupation for a pair of 20 somethings I'm told for the 21st century... Allotments are IN!

No big announcement

Stoopid church. Stoopid wedding...
We went along at 7pm to St Nicholas' church tonight and there were about 20 people waiting in the pews ahead of us. We were told the clerks stopped at 8pm and there was no way we were waiting for a whole hour if undoubtedly there wouldn't be the time to get sorted anyway.
So. Humph. No date for another week.
Apart from the wedding, work is insanely busy, so I'm off to finish off my glass of red wine and then I'm off to bed.
Na night.

Sorry

Sorry, I'm sorry I'm so sorry....
I'm rubbish, ok? Agreed? right...

My weeks are as follows:
Monday nights- Body attack
Tuesday nights - Nutrition course
Wednesday nights - 7-8 Church, 9-10 Al's football training
Thursday nights - FREE NIGHT (woohoo, what that means is ironing, cooking etc)
Friday nights - Yoga
In between I fit in homework, restoration work and overtime.
By the way, ta da: Anyone up for a spot of bat box building?





Last of all, the big wedding date will be announced tomorrow - hold onto your hats folks!

Mad weekend

As a rule we don't go out on fridays - I suppose we're rebelling against so many nights out during our student life! Anyway, Vicky called me during the daytime and asked me if we'd like to meet them for drinks and despite my friday reticence we were both up for it. Pete and Vicky are friends from Birmingham University. (http://www.bham.ac.uk/) They are loads of fun but they live on the other side of Birmingham and both have jobs that involve them travelling around the coutry quite a bit so we don't see as much of each other as we should. Anyway we met at The Old Joint Stock, next to the cathedral and had a real good chat. Then came the discussion at last orders of where to head on to... Broad St was a big no no, too cheesy and rough and expensive, hm. Then Alex suggested Snobs. Good old SNOBS! (http://www.snobsnightclub.co.uk/) At university there were weeks where I spent more time at Snobs than I did at the library - don't read this part mother! But we hadn't been there for years! Oh what fun! Me and Vicky danced, we all had a great night. I even got chatted up, four times! It was so funny, they were all so young, bless em!
Me and Al had a dance to the Cure, and even for a few seconds in the sixties room, it was great to get out. Even though I missed yoga at least I can say I got some exercise!
Saturday I launched into a mad cleaning frenzy - I left no corner unpolished I tell you! At the same time Al and Nathan helped our mates Ben and Cat into their new home. Then me and Laura and baby Emma went off in the car on another wedding recky. We went to the Bird In Hand, near Pershore http://www.fusionbrasserie.com. It's definately a big contender. I was able to meet with the Italian chef and owner, not just some wedding organiser (organ grinder, not monkey). It was really good, he had some lovely ideas, and I felt like we were pretty much in tune. Me and Al will definately go back together. Then me and Laura came back to the house to have dinner with Nathan and Al, who'd cooked a delicious chilly, yum! They left at about 8.30pm to get Em to bed, and me and Alex did the same; I'd say we were asleep by 10 o'clock!!! Lurvely bed...
Today is sunday, got church, then off to see a hotel that is near Coughton Court.
Pads is loving the weekend, after a few weeks of long weekends and being able to go out as she liked the last week has been a bit of a shock!
Today is

share

Just thought it's be nice to share this lovely picture from my parents wedding anniversary - I was too busy running around to take pictures but Tiet caught it. Gracies tiet!

Queria ensenarte este foto de yo y mama de la fiesta de sorpresa - es tan bonito, no? La verdad es que no tuve el timpo para sacar muchas fotos entonces, estaba bastante ocupada, pero este lo tomo mi tiet - gracies tiet!
muakis x

Our week off

After the big wedding we needed some time to relax. Work was really busy for a few weeks, Alex had had loads of overtime to do, then we'd had a very busy social life for a few weeks and we were both knackered!

Our week off has been domestic and lovely. Downstairs is a chocolate victoria sponge cake which I have cooked and I'm looking forward to scoffing!

Earlier today we went to Alex's nan to pick up her old radio which she was threatning to chuck out. We thought it was a black pye radio but apparently it's a Beethoven.














Anyway, we have also finally finished working on our extension floor, it is now varnished and lovely! And the desk which had been in the garage for the last 6 months awaiting its fate; well I finally got around to fishing sanding and varnishing it, yey!

Wedding photos

I have a confession to make. I was ill so I forgot to take a lot of things to the wedding, but the worst was my camera. The bride and groom's camera is broken and the bridesmaid's broke on the morning of the wedding. I will get photos but they'll take a while to come across and I'll add them to the blog asap.
Until then here are some photos of the hen night and of the morning after the wedding - Laura and Nathan are blearily-eyed opening their presents with some help from Emma!

Tengo que confesar... Estaba resfriada durante la boda y olvide de llevar un monton de cosas - entre ellas el peor fue mi camera. Que mala soy! Encima de eso la camera de la pareja feliz y damas de honor tambien se habian roto, asi que estoy buscando fotos entre nuestros amigos.
Hasta cuando las puedo anadir al blog aqui estan las fotos de la despedida de soltera y de la manana despues de la boda, cuando Nathan y Laura abrieron sus regalos. Emma les ayudaron, claro!

Me, Laura and best friend and bridesmaid Emma...














Then Vanessa (sister) Jill Nunnerley mum

Nathan and Laura's wedding

It's was two years we'd been thinking about this and both me and Alex were dead excited. Alex was best man, and as soon as Ben sat down after his speech at Daniel and Rachel's wedding Alex said " it's me next"!!! The hotel's wedding coordinator said it was one of the best he'd heard and we were all impressed. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll post the pictures at a later stage (don't grumble, uploading pictures takes ages!).

The hen do took place on the saturday. We met at Poppy Red in the Arcadian for some drinks then we went over to the nearby comedy club, the Glee Club. After some irritating shenanigans they managed to seat us all together and it was good fun. We saw 3 comedians, each was worse than the last but the first one and the compere were dead funny! I can only assume their strategy was to assume we'd all be too drunk to realise the third comedian wasn't funny but I obviously had not drunk enough!

We had a dance afterwards then went back to Poppy Red. I like Laura, but I like her all the more for banning any horns, wings, halos, fancy dress or other ridiculous items! She is a girl after my own heart! Lisa, Danielle, Hannah; take note!

Anyway the boys had squeezed in two stag do's so it was only fair to extend the girls do too. We all met up at Laura's parents house (dad Richard had been sent away to his mothers!) for a buffet and a massage. My massage lady Libby Miskin is great and had offered to do mini treatments for everyone at the hen do for a fiver. Most people there were completely new to massages, but it was a real hit. Nathan's mum Bernadette had said she'd marry her and have her babies if it had gone on for much longer! It was a great chance for a chinwag, and Emma got to see all her nearest and dearest and as usual was a complete star! I think she thought it was her birthday again!

Then last week Alex got a cold and of course I was next. On the Friday morning, the day before the wedding I woke up feeling rotten. I struggled through the day and coughed my way through the night. We drove to Bewdley, just outside of kidderminster http://www.bewdley.org.uk/ and it is gorgeous. A river runs through this quaint, very hilly, georgian village and we stayed at the Ramada Jarvis just outside the centre. At 7.00am Laura and Emma who I was sharing the room with woke up to get their hair done and I knew I needed drugs to get me through the day. Usually I don't take pills or medicine and rely on rest and that's fine but that day was the exception. I dosed myself up to the eyeballs, carried out 'operation SOS' on my nose to hide the red patches where I'd blown my nose about 5000 times in the previous 24 hours, and concentrated on having a good time. I also squeezed in an hour and a half's kip when no one was noticing after lunch which was great.

So Laura and her bridesmaids Emma and Vanessa went to the hairdressers on site to get their hair and make up done. Then we all gathered back in the room to get that dress on Laura. It was big and white, the traditional wedding frock, but I still got all emotional on seeing her all done up - she was beautiful!

The plan was that baby Emma would be walked up the aisle by the bridesmaids followed by Laura and her dad. We all congregated and waited for the bridal party, with Nathan and Alex down the front - Nathan looking like he'd just swallowed something bulky. Then the bridesmaids walked down the aisle but no baby Emma. Then Laura and her dad walked down the aisle and I did a bit of a double take. In her arms and clinging to her neck, sat the very gorgeous Emma, who was holding her bouquet! Once they got down the front Emma contributed to the ceremony by hitting her mum over the head with the beautiful arrangement of flowers she had in her hand! It was so funny, and so perfect! Because they are not just 2 anymore and the ceremony was as much involving Emma as possible!

Afterwards came the lunch followed by the SPEECH. Try and imaging Alex speeking it in his brummy voice.

More pictures from the wedding

The happy couple and their bridesmaid - aah!





They tried to drag us out there but
they ended up being the centre of
attention for their first dance - nowhere
to hide guys!








When I was 16 Dan wrote in my leaving book: 'to my cross british, spanish kuwaity etc friend have a nice life, enjoy your exams and live to be 99 years old. Love always and loads of luck.' bless him.









If you want to see a bit more about Richmond but can't be bothered then click here: http://www.richmond.org.uk/index.html
By far the most exciting part is Richmond's theatre which is the oldest woring theatre in the land. Established by Samuel Butler back in the 18th century we went on a tour. We walked on the stage, got to see under the stage where the trapdoors are and saw the stalls - exactly like on Blackadder the Third!!!
http://www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk/welcome.html

Dan and Rachel's wedding

This last weekend was a nice long one. We had Friday and Monday off so it was a bit of a luxury, and for a change me and Alex were actually going somewhere! woohoo! Fran and Les had their instructions and were looking after the cat for 3 days, it really helps that Fran is so soft on cats and it also really helps that Pads is quite a friendly cat! If she were a bit of a monster I don't suppose we'd ever be able to go anywhere! Anyway, We followed Cat and Ben through Birmingham onto the M6 where we lost them (that bit was the scariest part of the drive - I still say we'd have been better off staying on the M42 coming from our end, grumble grumble...). We stopped for sandwiches - yes already! - it took us ages to get to Tamworth which is barely outside of Birmingham and we were already ravenous! Btw, we used our juicer for the first time and had a healthy breakfast, we made strawberry and banana yum! Anyway we headed north along the M42, the A42, M1 and finally got to Richmond after over 4 and a half hours. I'd say it was worth it, was gorgeous! The dales surrounded us, Richmond is a quaint Georgian market town, and we had a lovely weekend.

This picture shows you the view from the breakfast room which had floor to ceiling windows, if you can imagine it - it took the breath away. A photo doesn't do it justice. To see it for real book a weekend with the lovely Ralph who'l serve cooked breakfasts and where you'll get a great night's sleep, it's a great b&B! http://www.66frenchgate.co.uk/

The main reason we were there was for Daniel's wedding. Mine and Al's friend Ben was going to be best man and me Dan and Ben all went to Blue Coat School together for 7 years. My how we've grown! (To see how Blue Coat has changed click on: http://www.bluecoatschool.com/ )The wedding was at a beautiful little church just outside of Richmond, then we went to the bride's family's farm where the reception was held in a marquee. There were chickens about! Us city folk were dead impressed!










http://www.richmond.org.uk/index.html
http://www.georgiantheatreroyal.co.uk/welcome.html

The Summer Party

I should catch up. Have been so busy that the blog has suffered so sorry. (Not sorry to 'memyselfandI' who I am sure won't have missed any entries, but completely love 'anonymous' for defending the blog so valiently! Thanks anon!)

Anyhoo, Just before the big party my employer BioCare organised a fun summer party for everyone and we all turned up to brave the dodgy weather and dress up like plonkers! The theme was a beach party, so what better than to dress all-hawaian?! Oh the fun! We got into 3 groups and played silly games. I was in the Hula Honey's, which won best dressed team (not much competition, mind!) and we came second overall. We played a game of treasure hunt - at which we were atrocious! Then we had a go at rounders - I hit a ball! Finally we had a go at team games which was hilarious.

Pues os debo mas explicaciones de mi vida, solo que he estado tan ocupada que ha sido dificil encontrar el tiempo.

Hace un par de semanas que BioCare organizo una fiesta para sus empleados para celebrar el verano. Nos disfrazamos como hawaianos locos y jugamos como ninos. Hubo una barbacoa y bebidas y al final juzgaron que mi equipo 'las hulas chulas' gano el premio de ser mejor disfrazado y tambien ganamos premio de segunda posicion. Y pensando que ganaron el equipo del jefe James con 2 puntos mas que nosotros no hicimos mal! El estuvo en las fuerzas armadas que quizas les dio una ventaja en el primer desafio, llamado tesoro escondido...!

The last picture is of the morning after the night before, after they'd upened their many presents. Mum still can't believe it happened I think, and I hope everyone else had a good time because I know I did!

Aah!

Tiet and Tieta are home now, the bar might have recovered from being attacked by so many old fogeys, and the world moves on. But I'm very glad to have brought so many people together. As happens when you bring people together with disparate backgrounds, and different interests, even different languages; they get on like a house on fire!

The big surprise

Tiet and Tieta came for lunch last sunday which was wonderful, we all had a drink, then we went for a walk along the canal so I could show them around. I made dinner; roast pork with honey and potato and pea mash with gravy, then we had apricot cake for pudding with custard. I wanted them to have something quite english and we eat in the garden because the weather held up just about and it was still warm.














On August 13th it was my parents' 30th wedding anniversary and the last few weeks have been the big build up. Unfortunately it was Nathan's stag do so Alex had to go off and have a fun time there, so everyone asked me 'where's Alex?' 'when do I get to meet Alex?' etc...
Anyway, I met auntie Pru in town and we went for lunch at Etna's, where I got into an argy-bargy exchange with an insolent waitor... Anyway, I decorated the bar and waited for the guests to arrive, in the end we had about 25 guests, friends and family.

Here are a few photos of the night. We had a buffet, champagne and a cake, but the best bit was mum and dad's faces! I've never seen dad speechless for so long... And mum's shriek nearly lifted the roof - bearing in mind it was a spire that's quite an achievement!